Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Labor History Timeline--The 1960s and 70s

1965 Delano Grape Strike: The predominantly Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee launched the strike, but it was soon joined by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta’s Mexican-American National Farmworkers Association. The two groups eventually united to form the United Farmworkers (UFW). The union also initiated a nationwide grape boycott that lasted five years and ended with the first union contract for U.S. farm workers outside of Hawaii. (Sources: UHWO, Workday Minnesota)

1970 Postal Strike: The first mass postal strike in U.S. history began when carriers in Manhattan and Brooklyn walked off the job, but quickly spread to 210,000 of the nation’s 750,000 mail carriers. (Sources: UHWO, AFGE)

Trailer for “Harlan County, USA”

1972 Bloody Coal Strike (Again) in Harlan County: Miners struck the Duke Power Company in Harlan County, Kentucky, the sight of numerous bloody strikes in the past (including the Battle of Evarts, 1931). (Sources: UHWO, Wikipedia, The Atlantic)

1974 Karen Silkwood Killed: Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union activist Karen Silkwood was assassinated during her investigation of a Kerr-McGee nuclear plant in Oklahoma. Her car was run off the road while she attempted to deliver documents to a New York Times reporter. (Sources: UHWO,Workday Minnesota)